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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24252787">Snowblind</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ryckmun/pseuds/Ryckmun'>Ryckmun</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Ad Infinitum [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Guild Wars 2 (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Epistolary, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 21:40:36</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,028</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24252787</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ryckmun/pseuds/Ryckmun</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Down in the twisting paths of Tangled Depths, a Priory researcher carefully retrieves a cache, immune to the ravages of time. Inside, a lone dagger sits, end stained yellow with blood; beside it, a silver rectangle gleams in the fading light. The researcher gathers the two items and hurries away, blending into the dark.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Ad Infinitum [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1750660</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Snowblind</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b> <em>1</em> </b>
</p><p>
  <em> “I hope this works. I hope that this message manages to find you, eventually – and that I’ll be the one to pass it on. You always liked things like that. Gifts, that is. I’m no asura, but I’ve rigged up my comms to save recordings. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> It’s quiet without you around. It’s quiet in general, really. Zhaitan’s gone- And can you believe that? He’s gone for good- and now the only background noise in Orr is of the shifting waves and vigilant lockstep. The Risen have been silenced, and it couldn’t be more terrifying. I keep expecting another attack, and the fact that I can’t hear any just makes me antsy. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> But we did it. The Commander did, at least. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> I’m sorry you weren’t there to see it.” </em>
</p><p>
  <b> <em>4</em> </b>
</p><p>
  <em> “I still see your body falling endlessly in my dreams. Nightmares. One or the other. Sometimes I dream about falling with you. Other times I wake, wishing the same. I won’t, of course- You wouldn’t want me to, and I wouldn’t throw my life away. But sometimes it’s hard. So hard. Even the dagger you gave me for my 23rd birthday, featherlight and balanced, feels too heavy in my hand, when it’s all I can do to fight and not think.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> I lost the other one. It’s a mismatched pair now. I’m sorry. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> It still works effectively against Mordrem though. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Thank you.” </em>
</p><p>
  <b> <em>7</em> </b>
</p><p>
  <em> “I love you. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> You know that, right? </em>
</p><p>
  <em> You must have. You’re the one who said it more, back when we were children playing in the snow, or half-jokingly pretending that Wolf and Bear and Leopard and Owl and all the others were hiding behind pieces of furniture and hidden behind this tree or that, back when we were training as if it were a game, flashing steel and smiles at one another. You never did quite get over that scar. I never got over the fact that I was the one who did that to you. Even if it was an accident. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> You looked more dead than that last time that I saw you, swallowed by the sky. And when I refused to bow to tradition and have my skin lined with red when I came of age, and you didn’t question why, I loved you just that tiny bit more. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> There were a lot of things that you were better than me at. Fighting. Emotions. Charisma. Letting go. Sometimes I wonder if our roles were reversed, how would you fare?  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> The worst part is that I don’t know. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> I think I was lucky to know you, and grow up with you, and be able to experience who you are. Even if you’re gone now. That will never change. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Our culture demands that you be celebrated as a hero, but none of them would know who you were, only what your legend was. They wouldn’t know you liked sweet pumpkin soup, or couldn’t stand asparagus, or were the type of person to dye a piece of fabric an inch at a time over the span of two years to throw people off. They wouldn’t know about the time you cried in the dark when your mother died and you were left with but a song, or that your left hand was weaker than your right due to a scar, or how you managed to drag people into dancing even when you couldn’t dance yourself. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> None of the legends mention things like that. Makes them too mortal. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Besides, my singing voice is horrible. I’ll spare the halls of Hoelbrak from that.” </em>
</p><p>
  <b> <em>12</em> </b>
</p><p>
  <em> “It’s been a while since my last message. Sorry about that. Lots of things have happened since then… Almost too many to fit into a single recording, though I’ll try my best. It’s the least I could do, after all. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Ah, who am I kidding? You always said I could talk for days once I had a subject, and it’s true. If the other members of the Pact think it’s weird that they see me mumbling into a comms when nobody’s around… well, nobody’s confronted me about it. I think they’re all too busy dealing with other problems. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Nobody’s ever been this deep into Maguuma. Certainly not you nor I. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> I feel bad for the sylvari. I can’t imagine what it’s like to have something whispering in your mind at every minute of every hour, never fading. Everyone’s scared of the sylvari. I’m scared for the sylvari. They’re constantly tired – I glimpsed the Warmaster a few times, and even with how strong he is, even with how he and the Commander continue onwards, unwavering, they look so tired. I wish I could help them. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> I hope we find the Marshal soon.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> I’m skipping details again, aren’t I?  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> It… </em>
</p><p>
  <em> [A pause.] </em>
</p><p>
  <em> It doesn’t matter. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> You’ll never be able to hear this. Because your body’s lost to the waves of Orr, and we’re pressing on into the Heart of Maguuma, and getting ready to fight another Elder Dragon with less than a sliver of our previous forces. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Last time we lost you. You, and a hundred others. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> I’m out of people to lose.” </em>
</p><p>
  <b> <em>14</em> </b>
</p><p>
  <em> “I could go back. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Theoretically. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> There’s nothing for me there, but I could. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> [A pause.] </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Or maybe not. Heights don’t agree with me anymore.” </em>
</p><p>
  <b> <em>15</em> </b>
</p><p>
  <em> “We’re pushing forward. Thought you should know.”  </em>
</p><p>
  <b> <em>18</em> </b>
</p><p>
  <em> “[Eight seconds of static, interspersed with ragged breaths and clashing steel]” </em>
</p><p>
  <b> <em>19</em> </b>
</p><p>
  <em> “The camp’s scattered. This attack was worse than the last – and I should be happy, I think, because it means that the Commander’s succeeding, is scaring Mordremoth when nothing else we’re doing is. I should be proud, because that’s what the Vigil stands for, in victory against the Elder Dragons. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> I can’t see that. Not when the fire’s down to embers and the watch is dead and the captain’s dead and blackened branches are all that remains of, of- </em>
</p><p>
  <em> [A half-laugh, half-sob] </em>
</p><p>
  <em> You- you always said my open heart would be my downfall. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> [A breath. The sound of steel, both physical and metaphorical.] </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Night’s not over. I need to go.”  </em>
</p><p>
  <b> <em>20</em> </b>
</p><p>
  <em> “…I’m sorry. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> I’ll see you soon.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> [20 seconds of static, followed by a wet sigh. Recording ends.] </em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Transcriber’s Notes: Messages recovered within a crystallized cache in Tangled Depths, in somewhat scratchy quality. Only the above entries were able to be recovered. Recording device was a slightly augmented Asura communications device, bearing a stylized mark of twin falling stars. A Norn coworker has pointed out that it resembles the symbol of a now-destroyed homestead, due north of Hoelbrak proper; this remains consistent with the imagery the speaker paints of their childhood.</p><p>End transcription.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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